Book Review: Motor Mouth

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Motor Mouth     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Janet Evanovich
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance   Humorous   Woman Main Character   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Barney (Alexandra Barnaby) # 2
HarperCollins, Oct 2006, $26.95

At Homestead-Miami Speedway Stiller Racing driver Sam Hooker finished second at the track (and first in some woman’s bed). Much of the accolades for his fine showing go to the pit crew, but the majority to his spotter, Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby, whose guidance was perfect. However, Barney may have gave directions when to ease and when to speed up to Sam, but something disturbed the spotter about the winning car driven by Spanky Bonnano of Huevo Motor Sports though she is not sure what that is.

Stiller spotter Gobbles Warner calls from a cell phone to ask Barney to get him out of the truck containing the winning race driver as he is locked inside and fears asking for help from the Huevo crew. After looking over the situation Barney with Sam’s assistance steals the truck. However, that proves a minor felony because inside the vehicle along with the trapped Gobbles is a dead Oscar Huevo, an apparent homicide victim. Though neither wants to deal with a corpse in a stolen truck, the driver and the spotter know they must solve the murder before the police decide they committed the crime.

As with METRO GIRL, MOTOR MOUTH is a delightful caper that will lead readers to think Stephanie Plum goes NASCAR. The story line is fun and zany as everything that could go wrong does with Barney believing that she makes Murphy look like an optimist as he had no St. Bernard, corpse, stolen vehicles, and the queen of fruit to contend with besides a killer and the racing circuit. Alas, this is all part of the life of a NASCAR spotter.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner